Wednesday, 3 July 2013

NG 163

I had TANSY (a type of herb) / NASTY, OUTSAY (thanks in part to yesterday's game), a dubious TANNOUS (it's not valid, which was as expected; I was free associating from STANNOUS), a likewise uncertain UNSTAY (also not valid), and SONATA just after time ran out.

When I looked back at my answers I misread TANNOUS as TANNOYS; if only I'd done so within time! I also wrote down ANNOYS when I saw that.

TANNOYS is the only seven. The other sixes are TANNOY, SUNTAN, TAUONS (TAUON being a type of subatomic particle), and SONANT ("sounding; having sound").

My selection: OUTSAY
Best: TANNOYS

Round 2: E O M W P A S T I

I had POEM, POEMS, IMPASTE / PASTIME, and ATOMISE. After time I noted IMPASTO as another seven.

Seven does seem to be the limit, with the others being OPIATES and ATOMIES (plural of ATOMY: "an atom; a mote").

My selection: PASTIME

Round 3: Target 959 from 75 25 6 10 5 2

A difficult target, to be sure. I floundered around with a few approaches, but the best I could manage was one away with 960 = 2*(6*75 + 25) + 10. There turn out to be a lot more one-offs, but I wasn't looking for them at that point, of course.

One away is the best that can be done in this instance; the simplest such is probably 960 = 2*6*(75 + 5).

My selection: 960 = 2*(6*75 + 25) + 10 [1 off]

Round 4: O E R G A D B E S

I had OGRE, ADORE, and optimistic DEROBES (not valid; the word is DISROBES, of course), and BADGERS. For a brief moment I thought I had spotted GARDEROBES (GARDEROBE: "a latrine; privy"), but that's added in an extra R. Or, as Sam would say, it "scores twenty". After time I noted GREASED as another seven, and wondered about GARBOES but it looks like the plural form should be simply GARBOS.

Once again seven is the limit, with the others being SOBERED / BEDSORE, SABERED / DEBASER, DRAGEES ("a small, hard, bead-shaped sweet, sometimes medicated"; the only place I have encountered this word before is in the description of Mentos), AEROBES (AEROBE: "a bacterium or other microorganism whose existence requires, or is not destroyed by, the presence of free oxygen"), BODEGAS (BODEGA: "a storehouse for wine, especially one which is above ground"), BARGEES (BARGEE: "one of the crew of a barge"), and BORAGES (BORAGE being a type of plant).

Update: Commenter Sam points out the eight of REBADGES (REBADGE: "to issue (a product) under another brand"). Well found, Sam!

My selection: BADGERS
Best: REBADGES

Round 5: F E L A R R O S E

I had LEAF, FLARE, wondered about FLARER (not valid), FLARES, wondered about LEAFERS (not valid) or LASERER (also not valid), and finally settled on LOAFERS as the safe seven. After time I checked up on FOALERS but it is not valid either.

Seven is the maximum again; the others are AREOLES, FEARERS, FERRELS (FERREL being a variant form of FERRULE: "a metal ring or cap put round the end of a post, stick, handle, etc., for strength or protection"), SAFROLE ("a colourless or faintly yellow liquid [...] obtained from oil of sassafras, etc., and used for flavouring and in perfumery"), and ROLFERS (ROLFER appearing to be a backformation from ROLFING: "a system of soft-tissue manipulation to re-align body posture and structure in order to ease chronic pain and to improve performance").

My selection: LOAFERS

Round 6: Target 551 from 50 25 100 75 6 4

It's very easy to get hung up on trying to make this as 550 + 1; I started with that consideration and wrote down a fallback one off 550 = 6*75 + 100. Then I thought to myself that I'd like to get to 550 while keeping the 75 and 25 for the final adjustment, and was able to turn that into a solution: 551 = 6*100 - 50 + 4 - 75/25.

But an offset of 1 is also an offset of 24, which is sometimes rather more approachable. Certainly in this instance where we have 4 and 6 to make the 24 and tweaking must get us the rest of the way. I started in roundabout fashion with 551 = 6*(75 - 4) + 100 + 25 and then shortened it considerably with 551 = 6*(100 - 4) - 25.

My selection: 551 = 6*(100 - 4) - 25

Round 7: T A R U D H I K E

I had TRAD / DART, DIRT, THIRD, and THREAD.

Six is the best this time, with the others being HATRED / DEARTH, TIRADE, DITHER, HARKED, DARKIE (another name for the fish LUDERICK), DUIKER (a type of African antelope), and UREDIA (plural of UREDIUM: "the fructification of the rust-fungi-bearing uredospores").

My selection: THREAD

Round 8: Target 198 from 50 25 3 7 2 6

The target is 18*11 so has many small extractable factors. I went with that approach first, finding 198 = 3*6*(25 - 2*7). Then I stopped to consider that the standard method is rather more tempting and found an alternative of 198 = 6*25 + 50 - 2. Returning to the factorisation approaches I also noted down 198 = (6 + 3 + 2)*(25 - 7) and 198 = (7 + 2)*(25 - 3) as other solutions.

My selection: 198 = (7 + 2)*(25 - 3)

Round 9: MANX GENII

With likely fragments of -ING and EX-, organising the middle part is not overly difficult and yields EXAMINING soon enough.